1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system for inspecting a plurality of items and more particularly to a system for providing a plurality of inspected items, wherein the inspected items may be rejected in either of two directions and the inspected items are replaced from a supply conveyor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, bacon has normally been packaged in packages which include a plurality of individual bacon slices. These bacon slices are stacked together and form a single unit. Over the past several years, consumers have desired more convenient packaging. Preparing bacon has always been a relatively messy task and microwaveable bacon packages have been developed to make cooking bacon less messy. The microwave bacon packages include a plurality of bacon strips. Packing machines which are utilized to pack the bacon strips normally package four packages simultaneously. Therefore, in order to have an efficient packaging line, four sets of bacon slices which are of acceptable quality need to be indexed into the packaging machine at once.
The inspecting of the bacon as it approaches the machine has been a problem. It has been difficult to reject one set of bacon slices and provide for a make-up set of bacon slices to replace the rejected slices. Since the bacon slices are conveyed to the packaging machine side by side and also front and back, any one of the four sets could be rejected for quality reasons. The ability to efficiently and quickly reject a bad set of bacon slices and replace it with a new set of bacon slices has been problematical in that any one of four sets of bacon slices could be rejected at one of the four locations.
The present invention addresses the problems associated with the prior art devices and provides for a two-directional reject and make-up conveyor system to provide for inspected bacon sets to a packaging machine. It is also appreciated that the inspection system could also be utilized for items other than bacon.